Yokohama F·Marinos are set to kick off the 2023 Japanese football season against Ventforet Kofu at the National Stadium in the Fujifilm Super Cup.
How did the Tricolor get into the Fujifilm Super Cup? By winning the 2022 Meiji Yasuda J1, of course.
It was clear from the beginning of the season that Marinos would conquer the league, though. They won just one of their first five matches as they worked on integrating their winter signings like Anderson Lopes, Takuma Nishimura and Eduardo, and caught some bad luck, but once the Tricolor found their footing, they were a runaway freight train.
Lopes and Léo Ceará turned into a dynamic goal scoring duo, finding the net 11 times apiece to lead the team, with Nishimura right on their heels with 10.
With a dynamic front line, Marinos only had to keep things together at the back, but they did more than that. Yohei Takaoka was stupendous in goal and Tomoki Iwata protected the back line with such aplomb that he earned J.League Player of the Year honors.
That outstanding play helped Marinos run off 11 wins in 13 matches from April 10 to July 6. That run saw them climb to the top of the table, a place they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Kawasaki Frontale were their typically excellent selves, pushing Marinos all the way to the last day of the season, but the Tricolor were up to the challenge. Élber scored in the 23rd minute, Nishimura scored a second early in the second half then Teruhito Nakagawa wrapped up a 3-1 victory on Matchday 34 to secure the title for Marinos.
The title marked the Tricolor’s seventh top flight championship overall and fifth in the J.League era. It marked them as Japan’s best team of 2022, and booked their spot in the country’s 2023 curtain raiser - the Fujifilm Super Cup.
